Restaurant: Sorrento Cafe Location: 9450 Scranton Rd. #114 San Diego, CA Phone: (858) 558-6750 Price Range: $1.29-$6.29

Number of visits: 1
Last visit before review: June 22, 2001

Jeff had: Steak sandwich with house salad (romaine and iceburg lettuce, olives, tomatoes, bell pepper) and potato salad, iced tea.

Randy had: A few bites of Jeff's steak sandwich, a bite of Jeff's salad. (He got his lunch elsewhere in the food court.)

Rating 6 (of 12) Average

Jeff says: There were two chunks of steak in my steak sandwich. One was tough and had grizzle along the side of it, and the other was tender. The tomato slices on the sandwich were very large, but under-ripe and tasteless. I took them out and they were perfect as a cutting board over which to cut the grizzle off the steak before returning it to the sandwich. The potato salad was mustardy and sweet, like the variety supermarkets sell in tubs, but I don't mind that at all. The house salad wasn't bad. The ranch dressing was good. The iced tea was brewed and good.

Randy says: Jeff's steak sandwich was a little tough and lacked any notable seasoning, but that's why you expect in a steak sandwich. I do think that when meat is to be made into a sandwich, the restaurant has an obligation to cut off the grizzly parts before putting it into the bread, which they clearly didn't do here. I didn't bother to try Jeff's potato salad since it looked like that supermarket stuff. Jeff's house salad had a respectable set of ingredients, including romaine lettuce.

Sorrento Cafe is in the Sorrento Towers Food Court and is a relatively new arrival there. When the little shop was being put together and the menu board first went up, Randy noticed a meatless pastrami sandwich on the menu. That error was quickly fixed, but apparently problems with their menu board persist. Jeff wanted the sirloin steak sandwich which was under the "Combos" heading noting that combos came with 2 sides. The man behind the counter said he was out of sirloin, but he had t-bone, and the steak sandwich usually only comes with one side but he'd go ahead do two. Since he was getting the two sides, Jeff didn't say anything at first. But the man behind the counter later repeated that the steak sandwich usually only comes with one side, so Jeff pointed out that the menu board says "two sides". The man behind the counter replied that the steak sandwich should not have been printed on the menu board under "Combos" and therefore should not come with two sides.

The man behind the counter did ask whether Jeff wanted one or two containers of Ranch dressing for the salad (two, please) and he and also the woman behind the counter both offered free refills on the iced tea while waiting for the steak sandwich and/or after getting it.

Sorrento Cafe also serves breakfast items, which is unusual in the food court but probably welcome. The menu, both breakfast and lunch, consists of typical grill items. You can call in your order ahead of time so it will be ready when you arrive, but be sure to count your sides.